Anna Faris was offered the lead role on the CBS comedy "Mom" in an unusual way — not through an agent or a network executive. The show's creator, Chuck Lorre, left the script for the pilot episode on Faris' doorstep with no note attached. Faris' husband, actor Chris Pratt, found it, read it and told the actress, a new mom herself, that she needed to give it a look.

"It's completely bizarre," Faris says of the way she found what she calls her "dream job." Had she ever found anything else on her doorstep? "My cat used to leave dead birds until we put a bell on her neck."

Faris dropped by The Times recently for a live Web chat in which we talked about the show, the joys of working with co-star Allison Janney (whom she likens to an antelope ... in the best possible sense) and what her own mom thinks of the show.

Faris shares her desire for a bunch of flashback scenes to Christy's partying past ("I want to play wasted all the time!") and, as a public service, also shared a couple of her mother's tips for how to avoid germs when dining out.